


All Of Herself

by say_lene



Series: She Bleeds Chaos [3]
Category: Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic (Video Game)
Genre: After Umbara, Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-13 03:57:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18461000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/say_lene/pseuds/say_lene
Summary: Jenevre must speak to the Alliance after the crisis on Umbara.





	All Of Herself

They were staring at her. All of them, like her shame was written on her skin. Moving forward carried her along cursive lines, and each stroke carved off another strip of flesh - bloodied, but not bleeding.

True devastation cauterized.

"Commander." Lana's voice was in her ear again. _Still_. "We'll need to address them. All together would be best. A single, unified message -"

"I know."

The gears had started turning the moment Jenevre had realized what was happening; before she'd learned if Lana had survived, and before Theron had gone on to serve the worst of her char-edged wounds. But when the moment was upon her and she was staring down the barrel of a holorecorder, all her plans had blown away like so much dust.

_Come home, Theron._

She was speaking around a noxious growth. It blocked her air and turned her voice to a sand-hoarse whisper. "That's something I'll need you to do for me, Lana."

"That would be a mistake." Lana's anger, as always, was cold and inexorable. Her words kept pace with her footsteps as they hurried toward the Alliance war room. "We need to show the galaxy that you emerged from this betrayal unharmed. If the Republic or the Empire come to suspect that you were injured -"

"So disabuse them of that notion." Jenevre's fingers found her lightsaber: a comforting, immutable mass, its rigid shell unyielding to the pressure she applied. "Whatever Acina might say, I am still Darth Imperius. I am due the same deference you showed when I was a member of the Dark Council. If I command it, Lana, you _do it._ "

Lana's footsteps stopped. A moment later, Jenevre stopped too. She turned to face her advisor with her mask of indifference firmly in place.

Lana didn't look angry. She didn't look scared. Her expression was utterly blank, but Jenevre could hear it in her voice.

Pity.

"If you command it, my lord, I will obey." Then came an infinitesimal hesitation, erased as quickly as it appeared. "But if you cannot bring yourself to face them, then the traitor will have won."

If it had been anyone else but Lana, Jenevre might have put her lightsaber through their chest. Instead, she schooled her expression to stillness.

She held back helpless tears.

"What do you think I should say?"

Lana inclined her head again - in acknowledgement, and thanks. She resumed their path toward the war room, and Jenevre fell in step beside her. "The whole galaxy will have seen your broadcast to Theron. You cannot hide it, even if you might wish to."

_Come home, Theron. I love you._

"Tell them the truth: that he betrayed you. That he is now to be considered a dangerous enemy of the Alliance." She paused. "If you wish, you can tell them that our hope is to bring him in alive."

He'd called her a tyrant. The way that he'd _looked_ at her -

"I don't know if that's possible."

They were on the threshold, now. The whole of the base was gathered, and Jenevre's lungs were twisted up like ripcords. She gripped her lightsaber tighter. An SIS agent and a Sith; she'd been a fool to think that it would ever work.

She'd given all of herself to him. Everything.

"Are you ready, commander?"

Jenevre's hand was beginning to ache. She curled her fingers even tighter, like she might draw blood with smooth metal. She stepped forward, and Lana fell away.

The crowd parted - and for a moment of fleeting vacuum, she was powerless again.  

_I loved you from the moment I saw you._

"Yes."


End file.
